Giuseppe Antonio Borgese and Italian propaganda abroad

Abstract

After the outbreak of war, public and private institutions in Italy embarked on various propaganda projects without coordination. It was not until Vittorio Emanuele Orlando became prime minister (from 30 October 1917 to 23 June 1919) that the first serious efforts were made to organize propaganda abroad. G. A. Borgese, a contributor to the Corriere della Sera, took an active role in the defense of Italian intervention in the war and was assigned various missions abroad, commissioned by the editor of the newspaper and, after this first experience, by the army and naval authorities, and by Orlando himself. His unpublished report Dello spirito pubblico in Francia, written at the end of his mission to Paris in March and April 1917, describes Italian propaganda efforts in France and French public opinion on Italy and the Italians, making it an important text that reveals both the problematic relations between Italy and France and the mistakes and shortcomings of Italian propaganda.